Last week
we reviewed an article on process errors.

This week
The detail this week is a little different because over the course of the IAI conference in St. Louis, I realized something about myself and others. Some of the below will mean different things to different people, but I encourage you to try to use these words in your own life, if appropriate:
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The Centenary Journey

In every journey there is a path and a traveler. Sometimes the path bifurcates or ends, sometimes there are bumps and pits along the way, but several truths apply to the "little things" along the path of every journey.

The IAI conference in St. Louis provided incredible lectures and workshops and little bits of encouragement everywhere. It is amazing that association can be established between two seemingly unrelated things: the kindness of fellow peers and fine detail in fingerprints.

Encouragement, the little things, and level 3 detail:

1) they often go un-noticed but everybody could use them at some point.

2) they should occasionally be passed on to other travelers if the road gets tough.

3) they can sometimes be easy to misinterpret so decipherment should be learned.

4) they are easy to disregard... but they sometimes provide the best guidance.

5) they can have great impact... but only if they are spotted and understood.

6) if they are missed, they should be sought harder next time.

7) if they are misread, barriers to interpretation should be learned and used for betterment.

8) if doubt is encountered it must be remembered that many things can cause doubt, but the traveler controls his/her own destiny by choosing to accept or ignore the doubt.

Eliminating doubt may involve different things, including time, learning, motivation, etc. But one thing is for sure... as we continue our journey into the next 100 years of fingerprinting, we should strive to make judgments with no doubt, and pass a little encouragement on to others every chance we get. And we should always be thankful for the little things.

The concept of "doubt" is credited to discussions with John Vanderkolk
The concept of "encouragement" is credited to the very many encouraging IAI delegates in attendance (you know which ones you are)
And of course, the concept of level 3 (not to leave out ridges and sequence) is credited to David Ashbaugh

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Until next Monday morning, don't work too hard or too little.

Have a GREAT week!